Best games to learn English

Lots of learning can be achieved by studying and reading books. However, never forget that learning can also be fun! If you have friends around who may want to improve on their English, you can play some great games. Find inspiration in the list below for afternoons and evenings filled with fun. You’ll notice your English will improve quickly while you play!

Scrabble

Good old-fashioned Scrabble is always a winner. Simply add an English twist to the game by only allowing players to use English words. You’ll be amazed how many words everyone can manage to come out with. Do make sure to have a dictionary on hand if you’re not sure!

Battleship

This is not a language-based game, but you can play it if there’s only two of you. If you’re only allowed to use English during the game, it will motivate you to be accurate. If you don’t, you can’t win the game!

20 Questions

One person thinks of a person, place or object. The rest of you will have only 20 questions to find out what it is your friend is thinking of. The catch is, you can only answer your questions in English! Your friend will also only be allowed to answer in English. You’ll find you’ll pick up words and sentences from your friends in no time. Also, they can learn from you!

Charades

Having been popular at game nights for decades, charades is played often by scores of people. One of your group will act something out. It can be an expression, a person, a movie character or whatever else comes to mind. The group must guess it before time runs out. However, the guesses can only be made in English!

Spot-the-word

Make a random list of words, like foods, everyday household objects, animals, etc. After you’ve done so, put on a movie. Every time you hear a word that you’ve put on your list, you shout it out. If you’re the first one to do so, you tick the word off your list. The person who has heard most of the words on the list wins!

The Directions Game

This is an outside game that you can play in teams. It’s best played in a town where you’ve never been before. The goal is to get to a central landmark, a building or a restaurant before the other team does. There’s just one catch: you pose as tourists and you can only ask for directions in English. The team to arrive at the destination first wins!

Pub Quiz

This game is especially good if you’re on holiday in Britain. Otherwise, there may be a British or Irish pub near where you live. The British are famously obsessed with pub quizzes, which test their contestants’ general knowledge. Of course, every contestant enjoys a few beers during the game. A genuine British pub quiz night is very entertaining and a guaranteed great night out.

If the games have taught you all they can, maybe consider a course from MixTree Languages like our intensive course. Get in touch with them if you want to find out more.